CIMB Research said the postponements follow the city’s new requirements involving geotechnical studies that may lengthen the approval process for property launches.
PETALING JAYA: At least three property players – SP Setia Bhd
, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd and IJM Corp Bhd – are pushing back some of their planned launches in Kuala Lumpur.
Based on its checks, CIMB Research said the postponements follow the city’s new requirements involving geotechnical studies that may lengthen the approval process for property launches.
Construction approvals in Kuala Lumpur were temporarily halted in late-August in the aftermath of a sinkhole incident on Jalan Masjid India.
However, Mah Sing Group Bhd has not faced any issues in obtaining clearance for any of its projects, which already incorporated certified geotechnical studies beforehand to expedite the application process.
These include its latest project in Kuala Lumpur, M Aspira, which officially unveiled its sales gallery on Nov 20.
“Mah Sing remains our top pick for its sector exposure,” CIMB Research said in a note.
The research house said, moving into 2025, the property sector is in need of fresh catalysts, in order to sustain investor interest in property stocks.
This comes amid a sharp moderation in the value of properties transacted nationwide, slowing house price index growth and the postponement of the signing of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) agreement to January 2025.
CIMB Research has a “neutral” stance on the property sector, even though Bursa Malaysia’s Property Index has outpaced the benchmark FBM KLCI year-to-date.
The research house said that although sector earnings in the first nine months of 2024 and property launches either broadly met or exceeded expectations, they were partly propped up by strategic land sales.
“Moreover, we doubt sentiment-driven interest in Johor-related property names can hold up without the successful launch of the JS-SEZ, which has been pushed back to January 2025; and the planned revival of the Johor-Singapore High Speed Rail project.”
CIMB Research said it expected more land monetisation deals to take centre stage next year as the growth in cloud and artificial intelligence sectors continue to fuel surging demand for data centre investments in Malaysia.
Sime Darby Property Bhd announced in earlier this month that it had signed a RM5.6bil build-and-lease agreement with Pearl Computing Malaysia to develop additional data centre facilities on a 77-acre site at Elmina Business Park, in Selangor.
UEM Sunrise Bhd is in ongoing discussions with its partner Logos Infrastructure Holdco Pte Ltd regarding a proposed data centre in Gerbang Nusajaya, Johor.
Mah Sing expects the commercial terms for its joint-venture with Bridge Data Centres for a data centre project in Bangi to be wrapped up by the quarter of 2025. It is also in negotiations with potential data-centre investors to dispose of a 42-acre parcel in Bandar Meridin East in Johor.
